The forwards retreated, leaving a pile of corpses and retreating 100 meters.

This distance was beyond the effective killing range of the longbow. Li Shengtian looked at the hundreds of corpses under the Tianmenguan city wall in the distance, and his heart was bleeding.

Although a few hundred people is only an insignificant number compared to his 450,000-strong army, those who can be the first to attack the army can be regarded as elite.

It can be said that this is a group of people who are the most courageous and desperate. Now that so many people have died, it is undoubtedly a big loss.

Li Shengtian didn't know whether it was Fu Chengyang's poisoning plan that failed, or Su Yuan's response in time.

But no matter which one it is, it is no longer a reality to easily capture Tianmen Pass.

You still have to play it slow and steady.

On the city wall, Su Yuan looked at the army attacking the north and wondered what Li Shengtian would choose next.

Although he used his trick to kill hundreds of Northern Army soldiers, this number would not affect the overall situation and would only slightly lower the enemy's morale.

Moreover, Su Yuan also felt that Li Shengtian retreated very quickly and immediately retreated when he found something was wrong. This can be said to be a very stable combat character.

If it were another general, he might be unwilling to give up the sunk costs and choose to continue to increase the attack. If that were the case, more men would be lost.

Currently at Tianmen Pass, Su Yuan has a total of 70,000 troops at his disposal.

Among them, there are 60,000 Xiliang cavalry and 10,000 Imperial Forest Army.

In addition, 20,000 real soldiers led by Niu Yuhong will arrive in the afternoon, and Chu Changning, who is leading 20,000 Xiliang cavalry back from Beirong, is expected to arrive at Tianmen Pass tomorrow evening.

By that time, Su Yuan's total available troops would be 110,000.

There seems to be a big gap between 110,000 and 450,000.

But Su Yuan had the dangerous pass of Tianmen Pass, and his soldiers were more elite, so he didn't have anything to worry about.

He even prepared for the worst. If Tianmen Pass could not be defended, he could give up the defense and let tens of thousands of cavalry regiments take the initiative to attack. The Northern Army on the opposite side was still mainly infantry, and had little advantage against the Xiliang cavalry.

but……

Su Yuan thought to himself that Li Shengtian should also realize this.

So what is his response?

Su Yuan would not underestimate the enemy, and soon he discovered that Li Shengtian's army was beginning to operate.

The Northern Army did not easily try to attack Tianmen Pass. Instead, a few hundred meters outside Tianmen Pass, soldiers began to transport logs and make fences.

Su Yuan was a little surprised when he saw this scene from a distance.

"Lord, the enemy seems to be setting up camp!"

Zhao Yun also saw the situation in the distance.

"Well, it seems that Li Shengtian does not have the idea of ​​a quick victory, but wants to fight a protracted war with us." Su Yuandao thought to himself, this Li Shengtian is really stable enough.

Although they clearly had hundreds of thousands of troops, they did not choose to attack by force, but instead formed a stronghold in the most stable way.

Thus……

Su Yuan was amused in his heart, my summoned soldiers don't need to consume food and grass.

If it was this kind of confrontational war of attrition, then Su Yuan could fight him forever.

Because his summoned soldiers do not need to eat, the food only needs to meet the consumption of real soldiers. And he has the entire Mozhou, plus Beirong and other tribes in his pocket. Such a large area cannot be supplied.

Twenty thousand people to eat and drink?

It's different when it comes to attacking the Northern Army.

How much food do 450,000 people need to eat in a day?

Even if there are eleven states in the Zhou Dynasty, how long can the food and grass be supplied? Not to mention that there may be a lot of deductions in the middle, and a lot of manpower will be consumed in transportation.

Just imagine, to transport food to 450,000 people, we need to use at least hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

In total, millions of people are spending time with Su Yuan here...

It has to be said that if Su Yuan's summoned soldiers also need to eat and drink, then Li Shengtian's steady behavior can be regarded as a "skill".

But the problem is that this is not the case. Li Shengtian is completely in a state of information asymmetry, so this move can only be regarded as a "common trick".

"Lord," Zhao Yun said in invitation, "The last general can lead thousands of light cavalry to guerrilla out of the city and interfere with the construction of the city wall!"

"This...is good."

Originally, Su Yuan didn't want to attack. If Li Shengtian wanted to delay, then he would delay and see who collapsed first. It just so happened that Su Yuan could use this time to search for the poisoner in Mozhou.

However, it would be nice to let Zhao Yun take the initiative, as this would also give Li Shengtian an illusion.

A kind of "I don't want you to build a camp" illusion.

If Li Shengtian takes this illusion seriously, he will definitely accelerate the construction of the camp, which will be beneficial to Su Yuan.

Soon, Zhao Yun led a thousand cavalry out of the city.

He didn't ask for too many people, because the purpose of the battle was to harass, not to fight head-on. It was just to harass, but too many people would make it difficult for him to be flexible and maneuverable, and it would be easy for him to lose his tail.

From a distance of several hundred meters, Li Shengtian could clearly see what was going on at Tianmen Pass. Naturally, Li Shengtian could also see what was going on at Tianmen Pass.

As soon as he saw the city gate open and the cavalry leaving the city, he immediately mobilized the cavalry to attack Zhao Yun's army.

After Zhao Yun led his army out of the city, he did not run straight towards Li Shengtian's army, but circled to the left flank.

The cavalry sent by Li Shengtian totaled about 5,000 people, divided into three teams, and attacked from the left, center, and right. It seemed that they wanted to surround Zhao Yun and cut off his retreat.

However, since Zhao Yun dares to apply to fight, he is confident enough in his own strength.

He rushed to the front of the military formation, holding a bright silver gentian gun high in his hand.

Soon, the cavalry of the two armies collided. Zhao Yun took the lead and rushed into the enemy formation, shouting: "Sweep thousands of troops!"

Extremely powerful light blue inner energy burst out from his body and attached to the spear. With a sweep of the barrel, dozens of North-chasing cavalry flew out, including men and horses.

When the shot was fired further forward, a cavalryman in front and even a dozen cavalrymen behind him were penetrated by the light blue internal energy, vomiting blood and falling off their horses.

In just a few breaths, Zhao Yun had defeated nearly a hundred enemies!

This scene really shocked Li Shengtian. He couldn't help but rub his eyes: "Grandmaster?! No, approaching the grandmaster..."

At the same time, on the Tianmenguan city wall, Su Yuan was very excited when he saw this scene.

Zhao Yun is like a god of war. He himself is like the gun in his hand, directly piercing the enemy's left-wing cavalry.

Moreover, the light blue inner energy he erupted reminded Su Yuan of Zhenmiao's purple true energy.

"Xiantian Dzogchen, this subordinate of yours has already stepped half into the realm of master."

Zhen Miao didn't know when she appeared next to Su Yuan, looking at Zhao Yundao from a distance.

She didn't like war situations very much. She didn't appear on the battlefield the previous few times. Now that she came out, she probably felt Zhao Yun's outburst.

Su Yuan asked: "Master, does the master's true essence have color in its external expression?"

He has seen the internal energy of some innate masters, which is basically invisible to the naked eye and can only be judged by the dust stirred up.

But the purple true essence of Zhenmiao, and the light blue inner energy that Zhao Yun is erupting now, which is not that dark in color, are both unusual.

Zhenmiao nodded and said: "The true essence will be formed after the internal force changes qualitatively. Each master's true essence has its own characteristics, so it will show certain color differences."

"As a subordinate of yours, part of the internal energy in your body has been transformed into true essence, so it has become special. Once all the internal energy is transformed, you will enter the realm of a master."

"Then Master Tai, can you tell what the characteristics of Zhao Yun's true energy are?"

"It seems to be a unique momentum." Zhen Miao observed Zhao Yun galloping in the army and made a judgment, "Under the influence of his true energy, the enemy will unconsciously feel fearful. It can be said that it is a very suitable for the military.

True essence characteristics.”

"I see!"

As Zhenmiao said, this is indeed a true quality that is very suitable for military generals.

It can be seen that Zhao Yun was born to be a general and gallop on the battlefield.

At this moment, on the battlefield outside the city, Zhao Yun alone had killed more than 300 enemies. Together with other Xiliang cavalry, he had defeated one of the three cavalry squads sent by Li Shengtian.

Seeing how brave Zhao Yun was, the remaining two groups also became cowed, lost their momentum, and wandered in circles, not daring to double-team.

Seeing this, Zhao Yun ignored the other two cavalry teams, and instead led his men to rush to where Li Shengtian's army was, and fired at the camp being established.

“More, more, more, more!”

Most of the arrows were blocked by the wooden shield, which was not very lethal, but extremely insulting.

Who can bear it when an army of hundreds of thousands is being ridden in the face by a handful of cavalry?

However, Li Shengtian did not order the pursuit, and watched helplessly as Zhao Yun led his troops to finish a round of cavalry shooting and then walked away.

"General! Do you want that guy to be so arrogant?"

One of Li Shengtian's lieutenants couldn't help roaring.

"We have hundreds of thousands of troops, why are we afraid of him!"

"That fierce general is a master of martial arts. He can't be defeated easily." Li Shengtian said calmly, "There is no need to be impulsive. They came out of the city to harass us, but they just don't want to see us build the camp."

"this!"

The deputy general looked angry and unconvinced.

"What about martial arts masters? I have also practiced martial arts, and those cavalrymen were too afraid, which is why the young general was so unscrupulous!"

Li Shengtian glanced at him. This deputy general was a general of the Qingzhou Army. From the beginning of the formation of the army, he had been slandering him and singing the opposite tune.

Li Shengtian understood that this was a sign of dissatisfaction. The imperial court asked him to be parachuted in as the commander-in-chief of the Qingzhou Army, and the generals of the Qingzhou Army would definitely be dissatisfied.

As soon as he thought about this, he suddenly said: "Since Vice General Zhang said so, it's better to go out and fight."

The deputy general named Zhang was stunned when he heard this and refused.

He actually knew that he was speaking out of anger, because he also saw Zhao Yun's heroic performance and knew that he would not be his opponent.

The reason why I said that was just to tease Li Shengtian.

Unexpectedly, Li Shengtian actually used words to attack him. Seeing that the generals and soldiers around him were looking over, if he gave in at this time, how would he be able to hold his head high in the army in the future?

Vice General Zhang secretly gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Okay! I'll go out and start a fight!"

He picked up his sword, put on his armor, and rode out into battle.

Zhao Yun had just led his troops on a guerrilla attack, but now he had retreated into the city.

So Vice General Zhang came to Tianmen Pass and shouted loudly: "That young man in white robe just now! Do you dare to fight?"

Above the city wall, Su Yuan looked confused, not knowing what the man below meant.

Challenging Zhao Yun? Didn't he just see how Zhao Yun charged and killed the enemy?

"Lord! Let the last general kill this beast!" Zhao Yun was filled with murderous intent when he saw this, obviously he had never thought about avoiding the battle.

Regardless of Su Yuan Xindao, a one-on-one battle between generals in front of the battle line is relatively rare in real wars. Generally speaking, generals will not take risks.

But as long as this kind of thing happens, it will definitely be a good story.

Moreover, the morale of the winning side's army will rise greatly, while the morale of the losing side will naturally decline.

Su Yuan had full confidence in Zhao Yun and immediately agreed to let him fight.

The city gate opened, and Zhao Yun rode alone, holding a spear in his hand, and rode into the formation of the two armies.

He had been watching from a distance without realizing it before, but now he was facing Zhao Yun alone, and the deputy general named Zhang suddenly felt a sense of fear.

Obviously Zhao Yun did not look evil, but rather handsome. But it gave him a sense of terror, making him tremble and almost want to dismount and surrender.

No, absolutely not!

I have to at least fight him for one round, and then retreat after losing, so that I can give him an explanation!

Vice General Zhang was thinking as soldiers from both sides beat drums to help the battle.

The thunderous beating of drums stimulated the eardrums and blood of everyone on the battlefield.

Compared with the battle between large armies, this kind of one-on-one duel between generals is undoubtedly more exciting.

"Young general!" Lieutenant General Zhang shouted to encourage himself, "Today is the day when you will die!"

Zhao Yun asked coldly: "Who are you? Zhao Yun will not kill unknown people with his gun!"

"I am Qingzhou General Zhang Rongdao. I am an unknown young man. I must die quickly!

!”

Zhang Rongdao clamped his legs between the horse's belly, and then swung his sword towards Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun had a cold face and did not use his true energy. He just swept away Zhang Rongdao's sword with a long spear. Then he flipped his wrist and sent the spear tip forward, piercing Zhang Rongdao's throat in an instant.

"puff!"

Zhao Yun put away his gun and came back, snorted coldly, turned around and left.

Behind him, Zhang Rongdao's eyes widened and he fell from his horse. He wanted to give the horse a symbolic chop and retreat, but he didn't expect that he was stabbed under the horse by Zhao Yun without even passing a single move.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Su Yuan asked the soldiers to roar to show Zhao Yun's bravery.

As for the Northern Army, the entire army was silent. If our generals fought back and forth with the opponent, losing would be easy.

As a result, he was stabbed to death as soon as they met. It was really a shame.

"snort!"

Li Shengtian snorted coldly when he saw this situation.

He had already anticipated this outcome. He lowered his eyes and glanced at the Qingzhou generals: "If you still want to fight, you can go ahead!"

The Qingzhou generals all looked away, not daring to look at him.

"Since you don't dare, then follow the military orders! Whoever questions my commander's orders next time will be dealt with according to military law!"

"yes!"

All the generals responded in unison.

Some smart people have figured out that Li Shengtian deliberately used Zhang Rongdao's life to kill chickens and scare monkeys.

But instead of using the knife himself, he borrowed the gun from the white-robed young general who called himself "Zhao Yun".

Li Shengtian felt quite satisfied when he saw the Qingzhou generals lowering their heads.

Although Zhang Rongdao was killed by Zhao Yun from the opposite side with a single shot, which had a negative impact on the morale of his own army. But compared with the fact that his generals were disobedient and sang the opposite tune, morale was actually a minor problem.
Chapter completed!